The False Prince (The Ascendance Series, Book 1)

All three of us shared the afternoon history lessons, which was a waste of Tobias’s time because he already knew the answer to every question. He spoke so quickly, there was no point in Roden and I even attempting to speak, even if we had known the answers.

Our history tutor was Mistress Havala, who Tobias said had taught him other lessons earlier that day. She was past the age of marriage, which was curious because she seemed like a pleasant enough person. She had a round face with curly black hair that bounced a lot, and made a great effort to avoid any discussion of the real reasons why Conner had brought us here, even though it was clear she knew. There was a nervousness about her, yet her easy smile and gentle nature were a welcome respite from the serious demeanor everyone else on this estate seemed to have. I wondered what would happen to her at the end of these two weeks.

When she stepped out to ask for a drink of water, I told Tobias and Roden of my concerns. Tobias shrugged it off. “She’ll be fine. She told me that Conner asked her never to talk about teaching us.”

“Threatened her, more likely,” I muttered.

Defensively, Tobias arched his head. “If she doesn’t talk, then it won’t matter what Conner did.”

“It always matters.” I looked to Roden to agree with me, but his head was buried in the book in front of him as he tried to figure out the word at his fingertip.

We all fell into silence as Mistress Havala returned. Tobias lapsed into a sort of daydream until Roden and I failed to answer her next question, which he then answered without hesitation.

Mistress Havala was an excellent tutor, and by the end of the class session, we could all name the major Carthyan cities and describe their contributions to the country. Fortunately for us, few cities in Carthya can be considered major, so it was easy to learn them. Unfortunately for Carthya, their contributions to the country are equally unimpressive. The new prince would need to work hard to build up production of our natural resources. Predictably, Tobias announced he was up to the challenge. Mistress Havala raised an eyebrow at his words but said nothing.

There was a knock at the door, and two servants entered, carrying what I guessed was our lunch. I didn’t know the first girl who entered, but the second servant was Imogen. She looked at me, gave her usual frown, then lowered her eyes. They set the trays down and left.

Mistress Havala placed the book she’d been teaching us from on her desk, then handed us each a meat pie wrapped in a thick pastry. I ate mine in four bites and turned to Tobias, who was only halfway through his. “Can I have the rest of yours?”

Tobias laughed, but I hadn’t been joking. He finished the rest of his pie without answering me while Mistress Havala continued on.

After our history lessons, Mott returned and escorted us to Conner’s stables. Cregan was waiting for us there. His arms were folded so tightly as we approached, I briefly wondered if they were knotted. “That’s right,” he said grumpily. “I’ll be teaching you to ride.” After Mott was gone, he pointed to a saddle balanced on the top of a fence. “Let’s start here. This is what you sit on to ride a horse.”

“You can’t be serious,” I said. “Are you really going to treat us like it’s the first time we’ve seen a horse? We can all ride.”

“I don’t know what your skills are —” Cregan said.

“My skills are better than yours,” I said. “I can outride you with my eyes closed. Probably so can Tobias and Roden.”

Cregan’s eyes narrowed. “Better than my skills? I’m not just a rider. I’m a trainer. I break wild horses and I can break you.”

I ignored that last part and said, “I can ride anything you can ride.”

Cregan smiled. “You won’t bait me so easily, boy.”

“Why not?” Tobias said. “If he says he can ride, why not test his skills?”

Cregan stared at Tobias, then me, then said, “All right. Wait here.” And walked back into the stalls.

“Thanks,” I said to Tobias.

Tobias glanced sideways at me. “I’m not on your side, Sage. Hopefully, this will teach you a lesson.”

Our attention was diverted by a crashing sound in the stables. Slowly, I shook my head and mumbled to Tobias, “You don’t think he has an untrained horse in there, do you?”

“Sounds like it,” Tobias said.

“Can you ride?” Roden asked me.

“I’ve ridden before. Is that the same thing?”

“No,” Tobias said flatly. “I can ride, but I’m not stupid enough to challenge Cregan to a wild horse.”

“Just apologize and tell Cregan you want lessons,” Roden said.

“And let everyone hold that over my head?” I asked. “I’ll just ride the horse in a circle or two. It’ll be fine.”

Cregan was practically laughing aloud as he escorted a horse outside the stables. It was already trying to buck, and it was work for him to hold on to the reins. Cregan grinned wickedly. “So you can outride me?”

I backed up two steps. My father had warned me about my quick tongue countless times. Perhaps he should have warned me more often. “It doesn’t matter whether I could beat you or not. You’re the tutor here.”

That seemed to offend Cregan. His voice rose in pitch as he said, “And as your tutor, I’m ordering you onto this horse.”

I shook my head. “I’m not riding that horse. Get me a tamer one and I’ll do it. You just know you’ll lose if you play fair.”

Cregan walked so close that I could feel his breath on me. “Scared?”

“Yeah.” I was. It was a fierce horse.

“Then it’s a good time to teach you some humility. Get on the horse or face the consequences.”

“Leave him alone. Sage was just talking big,” Roden said.

Cregan pointed a finger at Roden. “Sage won’t help you in the end, boy. Don’t you help him.” Then he looked at me. “If you don’t ride this horse now, then you won’t ride again during the next two weeks. I’ll tell Conner you failed here.”

After a very long moment, I reached for the reins. “Fine. But I need help getting up.”

Cregan laughed. “Can’t even mount a horse by yourself?”

“It’s a riding contest, not a mounting one. Where’s your horse?”

Cregan’s laugh widened. “You’ll fall off so quickly, I wouldn’t even have time to get into a saddle.” He steadied the horse while I climbed on.

The horse bucked and I had to grip tightly to stay in the saddle. “He doesn’t like me,” I said.

“You should be used to that,” Cregan said. “And Windstorm is a she.” With a laugh, he slapped the horse on the backside.

Windstorm took off with a fury at her feet, throwing me hard against the curve of the saddle. She bucked twice, and I managed to hold on only because it entertained the devils to help me do it. Behind me, Cregan was laughing boisterously. Maybe Roden and Tobias were too; it was hard to tell with the world jostling around me. I yelped and held on as she pulled free of Cregan’s control and we sprinted away.

Windstorm headed directly for a tree, as if she knew the low-hanging limb could knock me off. I ducked in time to avoid the worst of it, though some of the smaller branches scraped my shoulders as we passed beneath them.

Somewhere behind us, Cregan yelled for me to come back, but Windstorm was on a full gallop to freedom. Cregan was left with the reality that by the time he got a horse to follow me, I’d be long gone. And I was on a horse running so fast that if I fell off, I was facing more than a few broken bones. Or worse.